Rand Paul Admits He is Less Forthright Than his Dad
In an interview with National Review, Rand Paul admits how he is not as forthright as his father is about his political opinions:
Paul, 47, an ophthalmologist by profession, says the kerfuffle has changed the way he campaigns. “After the primary, I really wanted to jump right into the national debate,” he says. His civil-rights remarks, he admits, “have made doing that a little more difficult.” However, “No one [in the GOP] is forcing me to do anything. I do exactly what I want, but I am also realistic about what it takes to run a campaign and get elected.” For instance, instead of calling for the elimination of many federal departments — as his father, Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican congressman and former presidential candidate, regularly does — Paul says he is trying to “nibble around the edges,” to “not be the person who says he will eliminate every department in the federal government. My dad freely will say that, that he would eliminate at least half of the departments, but he is just more forthright.”
So is Paul a libertarian like his father? Depends on what you mean by that, he says. He tells us that he sees himself as a “constitutional conservative.” But he adds, “If you say that libertarianism means you really believe in a stricter construction of the Constitution, that you believe in a government that is much closer to the way the Founding Fathers envisioned,” then yes, he could be considered a libertarian of sorts.
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